


by any other name

by further



Category: Meta - Fandom
Genre: Meta, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:40:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/further/pseuds/further
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary Sue in the 21st Century.</p>
            </blockquote>





	by any other name

When I think about Marysuing, I think about Julianna Hawk's completely un-selfconscious _**X-Men**_ fic [_**Red Eyed Love**_](http://www.oocities.org/de/bokthersax/Faline/Red.html) in which a mutant named Julianna(!) and her pet hawk(!!) spy on a drunken Remy LeBeau and Scott Summers. Hers is a classic Marysue with all the fixin's: unusual powers, a talking bird friend, same name as the author, bizarre eyeballs, you name it.

But this story was already pretty old when I first read it- as are many of the essays, articles and assorted commentary I've found on topic of Marysuing. Since, from my observations, fan fiction continues to evolve in literary sophistication, sometimes I've wondered if it hasn't simply outgrown those dogged old motifs of wish-fulfillment tropes such as MarySuing, self-insertion etc. Granted, I tend to read rather savvy, experienced authors such as yourselves; but I also go out of my way to unearth newer, less-polished work and- thanks to my own deeply set perversity- I intentionally go on frequent hunts for bad fic. Very bad fic.

I'm certainly not speaking in absolutes. God knows when I end up on FanFiction.net, any notions I have about evolution and being sophisticated go straight down the literary crap-hole. I realize that there are still plenty of new, awkward, gawky, sophomoric individuals churning out the fan fic equivalent of chum. And there are still writers who, no matter how long and hard they toil, will come up short on the talent side. So I'm sure somebody somewhere, right this instant, is penning a Marysue. But for the most part, it seems as though all the ranting and railing against Marysues has actually paid off. Perhaps our flawless foil, our hated hero/heroine is now an endangered species- maybe even extinct.

However.

I was about half-done writing the obituary for Marysuism when it dawned on me that there was another possibility. What if Marysuing, while perhaps not as rampant and obvious as it once was, has simply gone on the down low as a certain sort of OOC writing.

Whether it's because of a wish to avoid possible Marysuing or because of things completely unrelated, the use of Original Characters has waned considerably in fan fic. If they are utilized at all, they tend to serve limited and specific functions in advancing the plot, then they get out of the way and let the canonical characters drive the main events of the story. We don't often see original characters ending up in bed with Batman or duking it out with Eliot Spencer because folks tend to rely mostly on the elements at hand in whatever canon they're drawing from.

But eliminating the once common trope of an integral original character hasn't necessarily driven Marysue out of mainstream of fan fiction altogether. More likely, some have simply taken a character from canon and twisted them just enough out of character to render them a sort of undercover Marysue.

Forget about the exotic hair and wacky-looking eyeballs and all that silly shit. And, I would add, forget about seducing everybody and saving the day. Rather than acting as champion in an attempt to wow the reader, these canonical Marysues mainly strive to win the pity of the reader. Instead of being the object of everyone's affection, the canonical Marysues become the target of sexual aggression or jealousy followed by violence or betrayal or entrapment. Instead of bringing about intergalactic peace and snatching the canonical hero from harm, these Marysues act as a sort of Candide or the passive protagonist from _**The Story of O**_. Their heroism lies in their being persecuted, pursued, captured or even killed. What makes them important is that evil targets them. That's how we're supposed to know they are the hero.

What's happened is a kind of backlash. Since being the outsider who swoops in and saves the day is a major hallmark of Marysuing, a ferocious aversion to avoiding that could easily lead to taking a character straight out of canon and making them the emotional focus of the action by getting them into a jam and having them bear up nobly. The Marysuish goal of depicting virtue remains intact. In the hands of a less seasoned or less talented author, such a notion almost immediately lends itself to extremes.

OOC Dean Winchester is a pretty good example of this. Badly-written Sam Goes Darkside Wincest often involves Dean becoming a tragic damsel with self-hating devotion to his evil sibling lover. Even as he fights to reach some speck of goodness and humanity he is certain Sam still retains, Marysue!Dean is both the object of Evil!Sam's obsession and his rage. He is the envy of Evil!Sam's demonic sycophants who see him as a weakness to be exploited or removed. This Marysue!Dean's heroism lies in his goodness and his passive suffering. It still speaks to the Marysue hallmark of poor character development and badly-disguised daydreams, thus hamstringing rather than unleashing the imagination.

Such OOC writing is still a consistent and frequent enough occurrence to be its own trope.And I would argue that even if passivity, martyrdom and suffering has taken the place of saving the day and seducing all the heroes, that trope is still a kind of Marysue. A subverted Marysue. A Marysue for the 21st century. Yikes.

 

[ _ **TV Tropes; Mary Sue**_](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue)  
So what is a Marysue? Anyway? A concise but thorough view from TV Tropes.

[ _ **A Conversation with Paula Smith**_](http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/243/205)  
Cynthia Walker's 2011 interview with Paula Smith, the Star Trek fan writer who  
gave the world the term “Mary Sue” with her 1973 fanfic satire _**[A Trekkie's Tale](http://web.archive.org/web/20100830041159/http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dark/1000/marysue.htm)**_.

Apparently, one can test for such things.

__****[The Writer's Mary Sue Test!](http://www.katfeete.net/writing/marysue.html)  
[The Original Fiction Mary-Sue Litmus Test](http://www.onlyfiction.net/ms-test.html)  
[The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test](http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm)  
[The World of Warcraft Mary-Sue Litmus Test!](http://www.freewebs.com/aerosolspraycan/marysue.html)  
[The True and 100% Accurate All-Fandom Mary-Sue Litmus Test](http://www.tangwistel.com/articles/ww_02.html)  
[The Original ANTI Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test](http://www.wiccananime.com/amslt/amsltindex.html)

[_**Too Good to Be True**_](http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM)  
Pat Pflieger's fun and fascinating presentation offers moments of  
cringe-worthy info on 150 Years of Mary Sue in American pop culture.

[ _ **The Mary Sue Manual**_](http://www.fictionpress.com/s/1440163/1/The_Official_Mary_Sue_Manual)  
[ **TA Maxwell**](http://www.fictionpress.com/u/114602/TA_Maxwell) describes various incarnations of  
Marysue and offers tips on how to avoid writing them.

 _ **[Defining Mary Sue](http://betterbemeta.tumblr.com/post/27835911761/defining-mary-sue)**_  
This is the problem with defining Mary Sue. All of the traditional traits, the ones  
you might find on any litmus test are merely symptoms of a greater disease.

[ _ **Self-Insertion and Mary-Sue-ism**_](http://www.bast-enterprises.de/ranma/MarySue.html)  
Sebastian thoughts about SI, Marysuisms and how  
they occur in a continuum as opposed to absolutes.

[ _ **How to Write a Mary Sue Fic in 7 Easy Steps**_](http://login.internettrash.com/users/oxfordtown/marysue.html)  
[ **Sara**](http://anothersaturday.livejournal.com/) walks us through her sure-fire recipe.

[ _ **The Mary Sue Phenomena in Published Literature and Popular Culture**_](http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/lorelei/marysue.html)  
[ **Lorelei**](http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/lorelei/) points out Marysues from fave stories including her own.

If you cannot afford a Marysue, one will be appointed for you.

__****[Mary Sue Generator](http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/fatguy.html)  
[The Mary Sue/Gary Stu Name Generator](http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/9907/#.UXaGAMo09hQ)  
[The Do-It-Yourself Middle-earth Mary Sue Generator!](http://elffetish.com/instasue.html)  
[The Les Miz Mary Sue Generator](http://www.lmffi.com/inspire/mariesuzanne.html)  
[X Men Mary Sue Generator](http://www.jordanna.net/librarie/xmen/suegen.htm)  
[The Harry Potter Mary-Sue Identity Generator](http://www.kwiz.biz/showquiz.php?quizid=1291)

[_**The Mary Sue Drinking Game**_](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/drive/xsi35/marysue.htm)  
Created by Wombat.


End file.
